Lentil Therapy

Focus, Focus and more Focus. All day, every day I try my best to maintain focus. I’ve looked at many ways to help with this, everything from meditation (can’t sit still long enough), puzzles (pick ones that don’t have a repeating pattern otherwise the other F word….frustration kicks in) and rock climbing, which, by the way, is the one activity that requires your total undivided attention. But, just the other day I stumbled across another, less dangerous method to achieve similar results…. Lentil Therapy. Yes, those little, flattish, button-like legumes can be instrumental as a tool to bring your awareness back from wherever it has strayed off to. (More about ending a sentence with a preposition later.)

As my meditation/yoga instructor friend, Nancy, pointed out, bags of lentils often contain tiny rocks that need to be removed before you can cook the little devils, not the rocks, but the beans. Separating the good stuff from the bad is a great way to increase focus and to produce a Zen-like state of meditation. Here’s the process….

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First, dump out onto your flat surface the quantity of lentils you will need for your recipe.
Next, slowly begin to move the lentils, one by one, to form a new pile.
Option, if at any time during this process your head begins to feel heavy or uncomfortable, use the vertical forearm and palm of your non-dominant hand to gently cradle it.

Voila! Not only is your mind at rest, but you now have a pile of rockless lentils for your favorite recipes.
To make this exercise even more effective, use the ultra tiny red lentils. Now that takes REAL focus.

*If anyone out there would like a lovely Lentil Therapy Kit, complete with recipes, just leave a reply and I will contact you with the information. I will not share your info.